Friday, December 19, 2014

Age of Empires: Castle Seige Attack Strategy

Here is a helpful tip to those who play Age of Empires Castle Seige on your phones, for attacking other human players. I have often used this strategy successfully against other human players, but have rarely seen it used against me.


I call it....


BLITZ THE KEEP


The best heroes you can have for this are Belisarius (who tunnels under walls) and Charlemange (who leads cavalry to attack a target). You use siege equipment with Belisarius to bust the opponent's walls forging a route to the opponent's keep. Then once you have busted down all the required walls, release all your cavalry (between 8 and 12) with Charlemange and use his special ability to blitz the keep (by dragging his sword and dropping it on the keep). The keep will be destroyed in about 3 seconds. You can use any combination of other soldiers to accomplish secondary objectives (like resource collection). But winning or losing depends on sacking the opponent's keep and the "Charlemange Blitz" is one easy way to do it.


How easy depends on the levels of your heroes. Early on, Belisarius can only collapse one wall. Upgrade him, and he can punch through 2 walls. So early on, if you are facing an opponent that requires you to punch through 2 walls, you require siege equipment to break through the first wall, then blitz Belisarius to take out the second wall. You need to be good at this, otherwise he can die before the 2nd wall is breached, and you be *bleeped*. When you only have the ability to use one hero at once, it has to be Charlemange. He and 10 horses can blitz over 90% of keeps, provided you have the siege equipment to bust through walls.


You may blitz a keep without Charlemange, it just happens slower, and if you can't punch holes in walls, you're going to lose.


Anyone with any other strategy advice is encouraged to leave a comment below.

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

NHL Defensemen Goals Against Average 2014/15

Have you ever wondered what the Goals Against Average is for NHL defensemen per 60 minutes of ice time, much how we measure quality of play for goaltenders. The difference is that for defensemen, I'm only looking at even strength goals against. Not all defensemen kill penalties, but all goalies kill penalties.




We are currently at the 1/4 mark of the 2014/15 season, and here are the stats for all defensemen with at least 10 Games Played.


Player  Team  GP  GA TOI/GP  GAA/60
Patrick Wiercioch OTT 15 3 16.5 0.73
Sergei Gonchar MTL 10 3 19.2 0.94
David Rundblad CHI 11 2 10.9 1.00
Ian Cole STL 24 7 15.6 1.12
Niklas Hjalmarsson CHI 24 11 22.0 1.25
Carl Gunnarsson STL 17 6 16.8 1.26
Joe Morrow BOS 14 5 17.0 1.26
Kevin Shattenkirk STL 24 12 22.6 1.33
Grant Clitsome WPG 16 5 14.1 1.33
Christian Ehrhoff PIT 24 12 21.9 1.37
Lubomir Visnovsky NYI 17 8 20.0 1.41
Jonas Brodin MIN 14 8 23.7 1.44
Trevor Van Riemsdyk CHI 18 6 13.5 1.48
Simon Despres PIT 23 8 14.1 1.48
Alec Martinez LAK 18 9 19.7 1.53
Adam Pardy WPG 13 5 15.0 1.54
John-Michael Liles CAR 17 8 18.2 1.55
Mattias Ekholm NSH 24 11 17.7 1.56
Paul Postma WPG 25 9 13.6 1.58
Jason Demers SJS 20 10 18.2 1.65
John Klingberg DAL 11 7 22.8 1.68
Nikita Zadorov BUF 14 7 17.6 1.70
Ryan Ellis NSH 24 13 18.8 1.73
Brayden McNabb LAK 25 12 16.7 1.73
Jakub Kindl DET 20 9 15.6 1.74
Torey Krug BOS 22 13 20.1 1.76
Shea Weber NSH 24 19 26.8 1.77
Matt Hunwick NYR 22 12 17.7 1.85
Nate Schmidt WSH 24 11 14.8 1.85
Jared Spurgeon MIN 18 14 24.7 1.89
Eric Gelinas NJD 20 11 17.5 1.89
Roman Josi NSH 24 20 26.4 1.90
Kevan Miller BOS 11 6 17.1 1.91
Adam Larsson NJD 17 9 16.5 1.93
Chris Phillips OTT 19 14 22.8 1.94
Johnny Oduya CHI 24 16 20.5 1.95
Tom Gilbert MTL 24 15 19.3 1.95
Ryan Suter MIN 23 22 29.3 1.96
Dennis Wideman CGY 25 19 23.2 1.97
Michal Rozsival CHI 15 8 16.2 1.98
Jake Muzzin LAK 19 15 23.2 2.05
Nick Leddy NYI 25 17 19.9 2.05
Raphael Diaz CGY 10 4 11.7 2.05
Francois Beauchemin ANA 18 14 22.7 2.05
Marc-Edouard Vlasic SJS 26 20 22.5 2.06
Kris Russell CGY 24 19 23.0 2.07
Zach Trotman BOS 11 6 15.8 2.07
Andrej Sustr TBL 23 13 16.3 2.08
Mark Streit PHI 24 19 22.8 2.08
Dmitry Kulikov FLA 19 15 22.6 2.10
Marco Scandella MIN 21 16 21.7 2.11
Brendan Smith DET 19 13 19.4 2.11
Brian Campbell FLA 23 19 23.1 2.14
Hampus Lindholm ANA 26 21 22.5 2.15
Tim Erixon CBJ 18 11 17.0 2.15
Duncan Keith CHI 24 22 25.4 2.16
Adam McQuaid BOS 20 14 19.4 2.16
Nathan Beaulieu MTL 14 7 13.8 2.17
Aaron Ekblad FLA 23 18 21.6 2.18
Clayton Stoner ANA 20 13 17.9 2.18
Josh Manson ANA 14 10 19.6 2.19
Nick Schultz PHI 23 16 18.9 2.21
TJ Brodie CGY 26 24 25.1 2.21
Mike Green WSH 19 14 19.9 2.22
Erik Gudbranson FLA 23 15 17.6 2.23
Drew Doughty LAK 25 27 28.9 2.24
Olli Maatta PIT 18 14 20.6 2.27
Jacob Trouba WPG 25 22 23.3 2.27
Danny DeKeyser DET 24 19 20.8 2.28
Alexei Emelin MTL 24 20 21.9 2.29
Alexander Edler VAN 25 23 24.1 2.30
Cody Ceci OTT 24 18 19.5 2.31
Keith Yandle ARI 26 25 24.6 2.34
Dylan Olsen FLA 22 14 16.2 2.35
Mark Giordano CGY 26 25 24.3 2.37
Brad Stuart COL 14 11 19.9 2.37
Scott Hannan SJS 19 12 16.0 2.38
Paul Martin PIT 24 21 22.1 2.38
Cam Fowler ANA 25 21 21.1 2.39
Toby Enstrom WPG 22 22 25.1 2.39
Damon Severson NJD 25 23 23.1 2.39
Anton Volchenkov NSH 20 11 13.8 2.39
Seth Jones NSH 24 17 17.8 2.39
Ryan Stanton VAN 15 9 15.0 2.40
Robyn Regehr LAK 22 17 19.3 2.40
Stephane Robidas TOR 23 16 17.3 2.42
Zach Bogosian WPG 24 22 22.7 2.42
Anton Stralman TBL 26 24 22.8 2.43
Mark Stuart WPG 25 20 19.7 2.44
Mirco Mueller SJS 21 15 17.5 2.46
Kyle Quincey DET 20 15 18.3 2.46
Andrei Markov MTL 26 26 24.4 2.46
Rasmus Ristolainen BUF 25 20 19.5 2.46
Brett Bellemore CAR 13 8 15.0 2.46
John Moore NYR 18 12 16.2 2.46
Jason Garrison TBL 26 23 21.3 2.49
Nate Guenin COL 19 13 16.4 2.51
Barret Jackman STL 24 17 16.9 2.51
Matthew Carle TBL 26 24 21.8 2.54
Marek Zidlicky NJD 25 23 21.7 2.55
Christopher Tanev VAN 25 22 20.6 2.56
Justin Braun SJS 26 24 21.5 2.58
James Wisniewski CBJ 21 20 22.0 2.60
P.K. Subban MTL 26 28 24.8 2.61
Kris Letang PIT 22 24 25.1 2.61
Michael Stone ARI 26 22 19.3 2.63
Mark Borowiecki OTT 19 13 15.5 2.64
Thomas Hickey NYI 24 20 18.8 2.65
Dion Phaneuf TOR 24 25 23.3 2.68
Tim Gleason CAR 22 16 16.2 2.69
Tyler Myers BUF 24 27 25.1 2.69
Dougie Hamilton BOS 26 26 22.3 2.69
Johnny Boychuk NYI 21 21 22.2 2.71
Jay Bouwmeester STL 20 21 23.2 2.71
Eric Gryba OTT 24 16 14.7 2.73
Ron Hainsey CAR 23 21 20.1 2.73
Matt Niskanen WSH 24 24 22.0 2.73
Morgan Rielly TOR 23 19 18.1 2.74
Erik Johnson COL 24 26 23.6 2.76
Rob Scuderi PIT 24 19 17.2 2.76
Jake Gardiner TOR 22 20 19.8 2.76
Matt Bartkowski BOS 13 11 18.3 2.77
Brent Burns SJS 26 28 23.3 2.77
David Schlemko ARI 14 11 16.8 2.81
Sami Vatanen ANA 26 27 22.1 2.82
Yannick Weber VAN 20 15 15.9 2.83
Matt Greene LAK 25 20 16.9 2.84
Brent Seabrook CHI 24 25 21.8 2.87
Willie Mitchell FLA 23 25 22.7 2.88
Alex Pietrangelo STL 24 30 25.8 2.90
Jay Harrison CAR 16 13 16.8 2.91
Dan Girardi NYR 24 29 24.9 2.92
Andy Greene NJD 25 29 23.7 2.94
Ryan McDonagh NYR 13 15 23.5 2.95
Kevin Klein NYR 23 20 17.7 2.95
Tyson Barrie COL 25 26 20.9 2.99
Niklas Kronwall DET 24 29 24.3 2.99
Kevin Bieksa VAN 25 27 21.6 3.00
Zach Redmond COL 14 12 17.0 3.03
Radko Gudas TBL 22 19 17.0 3.04
Karl Alzner WSH 24 23 18.9 3.04
Erik Karlsson OTT 24 34 27.8 3.06
Justin Schultz EDM 24 27 21.9 3.08
Marc Staal NYR 24 28 22.5 3.11
Luca Sbisa VAN 20 19 18.3 3.11
Mike Weber BUF 22 19 16.6 3.12
Matt Dumba MIN 20 13 12.5 3.12
Nicklas Grossmann PHI 24 23 18.4 3.13
Martin Marincin EDM 12 11 17.5 3.14
John Carlson WSH 24 29 23.1 3.14
David Savard CBJ 24 28 22.2 3.15
Jon Merrill NJD 11 12 20.7 3.16
Eric Brewer TBL 17 16 17.8 3.17
Mark Fayne EDM 25 23 17.3 3.18
Dan Hamhuis VAN 20 22 20.6 3.20
Brenden Dillon DAL 20 22 20.6 3.20
Calvin de Haan NYI 21 22 19.6 3.21
Dennis Seidenberg BOS 26 31 22.3 3.22
Jonathan Ericsson DET 24 26 20.1 3.24
Andrew Ference EDM 22 24 20.2 3.24
Tyson Strachan BUF 15 16 19.6 3.26
Travis Hamonic NYI 21 24 21.0 3.26
Zbynek Michalek ARI 26 30 21.1 3.28
Andrej Meszaros BUF 17 18 19.2 3.31
Cody Franson TOR 22 25 20.4 3.34
Andrew MacDonald PHI 13 15 20.7 3.34
Jan Hejda COL 25 30 21.3 3.38
Roman Polak TOR 21 25 21.1 3.39
Michael Del Zotto PHI 22 26 20.7 3.43
Connor Murphy ARI 25 23 16.1 3.44
Mike Weaver MTL 24 21 15.2 3.45
Oliver Ekman-Larsson ARI 26 39 26.0 3.46
Matt Irwin SJS 13 13 17.3 3.47
Andrej Sekera CAR 23 30 22.6 3.47
Alex Goligoski DAL 25 36 24.7 3.50
Fedor Tyutin CBJ 16 19 20.3 3.51
Josh Gorges BUF 18 23 21.8 3.51
Ladislav Smid CGY 24 21 14.9 3.53
Nick Holden COL 25 30 20.2 3.56
Justin Faulk CAR 24 34 23.8 3.57
Jordie Benn DAL 21 26 20.6 3.60
Nikita Nikitin EDM 21 27 20.9 3.70
Keith Ballard MIN 11 9 13.2 3.72
Jamie Oleksiak DAL 19 14 11.9 3.73
Nate Prosser MIN 19 17 14.4 3.74
Brooks Orpik WSH 24 33 21.6 3.81
Dalton Prout CBJ 21 24 17.7 3.88
Andre Benoit BUF 16 21 20.2 3.90
Brian Strait NYI 15 18 18.4 3.91
Jeff Petry EDM 24 32 20.2 3.96
Deryk Engelland CGY 21 20 14.2 4.01
Trevor Daley DAL 25 42 24.5 4.11
Braydon Coburn PHI 12 18 20.0 4.51
Jared Cowen OTT 19 28 18.7 4.74
Luke Schenn PHI 19 25 16.4 4.83
Jack Johnson CBJ 21 41 23.6 4.96
Bryce Salvador NJD 15 24 18.5 5.19